As someone whose both job and natural curiosity with technologies compels me to sign up and experiment with new Internet based services, I've started thinking about this recently. Why do service providers on the whole not provide an easily accessible method of 'leaving' a service? Maybe they hope the 'We haven't seen you for a while' type emails I receive periodically will have an anti-churn effect which brings me rushing back, but more often than not they just remind me how many services in which I not longer have any interest , still have my contact details. Of course the digital identity thinkers would have this solved by me revoking the service's licence to my details I guess. But that’s not quite the same thing as a definite notification of intention to leave the service. Of course one answer is that ‘number of signups’ is a staple, if often misleading, success metric so there is an obvious disincentive to provide any exit button, especially for s...
Bone fide cyber punk